Apparatus for turning cigarettes right side ttp as they are ped to the



ACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 2, 1931. M. BERGER APPARATUS FOR TURNING CIGARETTES RIGHT SIDE UP AS THEY ARE FED TO THE PACKING M Filed July 1,1929

W3 @QQQV QRVMV June 1931. M. BERGER 1,307,723. APPARATUS FOR TURNING CIGARETTES RIGHT SIDE UP As THEY ARE FED TO THE PACKING MACH [NE Pdtented June 2, 1931' UNITE /STATES. ATENT OFFICE MARTIN BERGER, OF IBEITAL-DEUBEN, DRESDEN, Gm, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED CIGARETTE MACHINE COMPANY AKTIENGESIELSCEAFT, OI DBESDET,

GERMANY urnnn'us non mums cmmmns mom: sum or A8 Y rscxnm mcnmn Application filed July 1, 1929, Serial No.

In devices for the mechanical packing of cigarettes and similar articles it is usual for the feeding device, which carries the cigarettes to the pacln'ng machine, to divide them into one or more rows or sets, so that they can be observed by the operator attending the machine, and in the event of their 11 t devices have been found to suffer from the P drawback that when the row of cigarettes is moving quickly the operator is not always able to scrutinize them quickly enough, and also that constant observation of the rapidly moving cigarettes soon produces fati e. The-result. is'thatthe turning device is o n brou ht into action 'too soon or too late, so

that instead of theproper cigarette it is one in front of it or behind it that is turned.

, According to the present invention this drawback is overcome by having a certain number of the ci arettes as they are moved forward by the eed device held, by means of an optical device, in a position of apparent rest in relation to the observation post 7 within which the control of the turning mechanism is contained, so that the operator,

, or alternatively the automatic turning device employed, which may embody a photo elec-' tric cell, a selenium cell, or some other arrangement subject to a certain amount of inertia, has suflicient time to detect-the ci arettes in relation to the devices necessary or turning them and to operate the proper release. I a

The appended drawings show by way of examples some forms of the invention,

and:-

Fi 1 is :1. dia

ammatic representation 7 of a evice in whic the apparent position of TfiEYABEIED'rOm 875,264, and in Germany an as, 1928-.

rest of the cigarettes to be observed is oli- Q tained by optical means.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the image holder by itself.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the whole of the arrangement. whereby the turnin device is actuated.

i 4 is a section through Fig. 3 on the line ;B.

Fig. 5 is a side view of one part taken from Fig. 3.

The cigarettes to be. packed are conveyed in the usual manner by a device, which, in the examples shown, consists of a chain movin at a uniform speed. The links 10 of this chain are held together by .pins 11.

The links 10 are provided with grooves 12, in which the cigarettes 13 lie in an oblique osition. The grooves 12 have raised edges indicated by 14, Fig. 3, against which the cigarettes rest. At suitable places alon the line of travel one or more stops 15 are p aced these. being vertically movable up and down in guides 16, and so placedthat when in the ble convex lenses 17 and 18, and a mirror 19 is placed in a position above the line of travel and projects upon a translucent screen 20, an image 13 of a certain number of the cigarettes 13, in this example eight. The lens 18 and mirror 19 are placed at a definite angle to each other, and mounted in a tube shafped container 21, Fig. 1, which by means 0 two guide-rods 22and 23 is'carried in a direction parallel to the line of travel of the cigarettes 13, and b means of suitable driving mechanism, w eh may consist of a cam disc or the like, is caused to move at .a speed governed by'the speed' of. travel of the cigarettes themselves, andto return quickly to its original position. The lens 17 is placed within a tube 24 fitted into the lower end of the container 21, the. lower extremity of tube 24 being above the line of travel of the cigarettes";

The opaque screen 20 is connected to the container 21 by means of anextensible b llows, so that it shall not move with the container 21. The image of the eight cigarettes 13 to be observed is projected by the lenses 17, 18 and b the mirror 19 upon the opaque screen 20 w ere, owing to the movement of the container I 21, the image appears stationary until all the eight cigarettes 13 have been carried past. This gives the observer operating the turning device sufficient time to note whether the cigarettes appearing on the opaque screen 20 are in the right position, and if one or more of the eight cigarettes are wrongly placed he is easil able to actuate the turning device. The tlme at the operators disposal for noting whether the clgarettes are in the correct position is therefore eight times as long as it is when he has to observe them directly on the chain, as the opaque screen providedhim, instead of the rapid] changing image of a single cigarette, with a picture of eight cigarettes .shown simultaneously and apparently mo tionless.

The turning of a set of push keys 33 placed by the side of the ci rettes or of their images.

'These i: s, eight in all, are in fixed positions and t e image of the eight cigarettes momentarily under consideration is, as explained above projected on to. the screen 20 he optical device in such man-' by means of t ner that during the time required the eight cigarettes remain constantly opposite to the ei ht keys. 7

he keys-33 are connected to electric circuits 35 35 etc., which are closed by pres sure on the keys. The wires 35 ,35 and so on are jointly connected to one pole of a battery 36*, the other pole of the battery being connected to a return wire. Each of the wires 35 35 etc. leads to a roller or rubbing contact 37 made of conductor material which is placedat the periphery of a revolving disc 36' driven by any formof power. There are eight of these contacts working n the same axis and each one of them con cts with a slip ring 38 on the periphery of the disc 36. a Within the disc 36 are a numberrof electromagnets 39, Fig. 4, in the present in stance 24 altogether, that is to say three times as many as the number of push. keys. The number of electromagnets being three times as large as the number of wires 35 35 and so on, the slip rings 38 are subdivided into three parts disposed around the periphery of the disc 36. Each one of the electromagnets 39 is connectedby a conductor 4O toone of the eight slip rings 38. Two other discs, 41 and 42, Fig. 4, are erma- 'nently connected to disc 36. Disc 41, which is of smallerdiameter than 36 and 42, the latter preferably bein equal, has on its periphery a coating 0 conductor material 43, connected bywires 44 with the adjacent device is released .by means ends of the magnet windings of all the electromagnets 39. In contact with the coating 43 is a roller or rubbing contact 45,

connected to the return wire 35 of the electric circuit.

In the disc 42 are longitudinally slidable magnet armatures 46, placed opposite to the electromagnets on disc'36, so that these armatures 46 are likewise 24 in number. The armatures 46 are generally arranged in the positions shown in Fig. 4, so that as they pass by the free end of an elbowllever 48 connected to the stop 15 of the turning device they hold the lever in such a position thatthe stop 15 of the turning device does not project into the path of travel'of the cigarettes. When, however, the circuit of one of the electromagnets 39 ,is closed by pressing down the appropriate ke '33, the respective armature 46 is attracte so that 'on the subsequent passage of the armature 46 the lever 48 is released and is moved by the action of a spring 50 into such a position that the stop 15 is in the raised positions causing it-to come up against the cigarettes 13 as it moves forward and to give it a turn of 180. The speed of rotation of ,discs 36 and 42 is so calculated that the passage of the attracted armature 46 and consequently the release of lever 48 shall occur at the moment in which the particular cigarettes 13, the incorrect osition of which gave cause for pressing own the key 33 and thereby closlng the circuit, has arrived infront of the stop 15 of the turning device, so that in every case it is the right cigarette that is turned.

For the purpose .of efi'ecting the return movement of the attracted armature 40, there is placed by the side of disc 42 an inclined surface 51 (Fig. 5) which has effect,

as disc 42 continues to rotate, of pushing tracks, the latter can be placed close together and the operators position can be wherever desired, which results in an appreciable saving of space.

With optical transmission it is also not absolutely necessary that the optical system itself should move as it does in the example shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This' can instead be. so arranged that the screen on to which the image of the cigarettes is projected moves at a speed governed b the speed of travel of the cigarettes, an that memes after traversing a distance e ual to the separation between the first an last of the set of cigarettes, shown on the screen, it is broug t rapidly back to its original position, the cycle of operations being then repeated. This can be suitably arranged by providing ,the'bellows sufl'iciently rigid so that the screen will move together with the container 21.

Furthermore, the invention is of course equally well utilizable in those cases where the actuation of the turning devices is effected not by mechanical means through the agency of an operator winding the machine, but by automatic means utilizing the sensitiveness of photo-electric cells, selenium cells, or other devices.

I claim 1. A device for enabling the turning of cigarettes on a conveyor as they are fed to a packing machine comprising optical means adapted to throw a stationary image of the moving cigarettes for the purpose of enabling an appliance to be operated to turn any desired cigarette shown in the image; and means for observing the image.

2. A device for enabling the turning of cigarettes on a conveyor as they are fed to a packing machine comprising a screen; and

optical means adapted to throw a stationary image of the moving cigarettes on the screen for the purpose of enabling an' appliance to be operated to turn any desired cigarette shown in the image.

3. A device for enabling the turning of cigarettes on a conveyor as they are fed to a packing machine comprising optical means including a mirror and a screen on which a stationary image of the moving cigarettes is adapted to be thrown, said mirror being movable in a manner governed by the speed moving cigarettes is adapte to be thrown,

said mirror and lenses being movable in a cigarettes on a conveyor as they are fed to a packing machine comprising an optical system; and .a screen on which a relatively stationary image of the moving cigarettes is adapted to be thrown by the optical system, said screen moving with a speed corresponding to that of the cigarettes and being adapted to be brought back to its original position for the purpose of enabling an appliance to be operated to turn any desired cigarette shown-in the image.

6. A device for enabling the turning of cigarettes on a conveyor as they are fed to a packing machine comprising an optical system; and a screen'on which a relatively stationary image of the moving cigarettes is adapted to be thrown by the optical sys- .tem, said screen moving with a speed corresponding to that of the cigarettes and being adapted to be brought back to its original position for the purpose of enabling an appliance to be operated to turn any desired cigarette shown in the image by means of a plurality of push keys arranged adjacent the screen and equal in number to the cigarettes shown in the image on the screen.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature.

MARTIN BERGER.

manner governed by the speed of motion of r the cigarettes so that the image of the cigarettes as thrown on the screen remains in aposition of apparent rest for-a period corresponding to the distance between the previous and the, next set for the purpose'of enabling an appliance to be operated to turn any desired cigarette shown in the image.

5. A device for enabling the turning of 

